Mounted search and rescue

[Una Smith <una.smith@att.net>]

The info below is from Wayne Bare, an MSAR-Riders subscriber.
The tracking conference will be held in Bastrop, Texas, 25
miles east of Austin.  http://www.ispt.org/tracking2003.0.html
has details.  But first, here is a little info Wayne provided
about himself and his MSAR team.

        Una Smith
        New Mexico


Van Zandt County Tracking Team
Office  903 963 1573
Cell    903 312 7907
http://www.apbcrescue.org/
State of Texas  C. H. L .  #   01638164

1 W Wayne Bare..,  tracker 40 years (horseback).......
  member International Society of Professional Trackers
  http://www.ispt.org/
2 Jim Fekety, combat veteran U. S. Army  FO "forward observer"
  (Viet Nam)
3 Rocky Wardlow (Sargent Texas Ranger) Co. F
4 Rodney Bare, U.S. Air Force  Biathlon marksman
5 Earl Wilkins U.S. Army Tracker/Hunter
6 Danny Smith "Cherokee Tribal Nation" Very Experienced
  Tracker/Hunter
7 Ethel Miller, E.M.T Med. adv. Junior tracker
8 Cindy Burkett, experienced Equestrian, Video equip, Hand
  Guns, DVD sales and Junior tracker


Now, about the tracking conference...


In ISPT@yahoogroups.com, "D. Morris" <del903@y...> wrote:

Approved Abstracts for Presentation
*********************************************

Landscape Tracking
by Nate T. Kempton

Landscape Tracking is a powerful tool that tells the person using it
where the tracks of their target wildlife are going to occur. It can
be done from the sofa while enjoying a cold one looking over a
topographical map, from the seat in the Jeep as you come into an area
or standing in the middle of the wilderness as you look over the
landscape. To those who don't understand this type of tracking, it
looks like you walked directly to where the tracks of interest appear
on the ground =96 and they are amazed.

Landscape Tracking is visualizing the landscape as a living/evolving
roadmap. All animals from the largest to the smallest have
territories, habitats and terrain features that they inhabit. This
course will teach trackers how to identify these terrain features.
For some, tracking is nothing more than stumbling upon a track and
then identifying the animal with a field guide. Using these methods a
tracker can enhance their ability to locate tracks, beds, trails, and
even kill sites.

Landscape Tracking is not impossible to learn and will enhance the
skills of any person who wants to understand more of the interlocking
system of nature.


Sexing and Aging the Creature
by Dr. David Kowalewski

During this presentation, protocols for sexing and aging the quarry
are offered, based on several factors. Included are population
distribution; measurements; print juxtaposition; register; path
features; sign (scat, urine, sparring mats, antler marks, vegetative
nibbles); bioacoustics; and other factors.

The optimal times and places for finding and distinguishing among the
various ages and sexes will also be discussed. These points will be
illustrated with a power-point presentation of over 50 images.
Presentation attendees will also be provided handouts for measurements
and mating season.


SAR Trackers: The Value Added Searcher
By Del Morris

"You can't rescue them until you find them" and tracking will help
you find your subject faster. To begin developing a tracking resource
within a unit, a SAR Coordinator needs to know of the Five Core
Tracking Knowledge skill sets (D.I.R.T.T.) that will be identified in
this presentation. The SAR member desiring to learn tracking and then
strive to become more proficient at one or all of these tracking
skills can then meet these expectations. Together we have
expectations that will match continued training and active practice.

We will introduce "new" tools to take back to your ground teams for
use on your very next search. I believe that all searchers need to be
progressing towards being a tracker. The SAR world has 30 years of
"teachings" that a searcher, when trained in man-tracking, can be an
asset to your search. It is time to put these teachings into practice.

We offer tools to increase "print sketching" skills as well as the
ability to broadcast sole patterns via radio to other searchers
effectively. We encourage an open discussion of "realities" of
tracking resources. We will discuss "Core Tracking Knowledge" to
reduce the "expectation gap" that exists between SAR bosses and SAR
trackers. THIS IS NOT A LECTURE =96 BE PREPARED TO PARTICIPATE.


Journaling Wildlife Track and Sign
by Michael R. Kresky

I'd like to present a way to enhance abilities in the field to
identify Track and Sign. By learning some tips and routines, a
person's journal can become a sharpened learning tool. We'll look at
the things one can do to prepare themselves ahead of time: Knowing
roughly what's there before you go tracking by listing faunal
possibilities. What does a good list include and how do you make one?
Also, habitat information through geology, hydrology, vegetation
patterns and topography.

The discussion will include:
* Different materials used in the field and their efficacy
* A look at other tracker's approaches and methods to see more clearly
  what our own needs may be
* Making your own journal
* Thinking holistically about your journal and its greater
  implications for science, education, conservation, personal
  enrichment, etc.

We'll look at in-the-field tips about basic observations, weather,
substrate, outstanding observations, anecdotes, and more. I'd also
like to share some ideas on placement on the page, composition,
artistic license, proportionality other factors that gets a journal
page to flow and be your own.

Track measurement technique will be looked at through the eyes of
others with a brief survey on methodology. What makes a good set of
tracks for the journaling process? Which side of the body is this and
are these fores or hinds? I'll address enhancing your time at home
after the field work, with tips on cross-referencing to compare your
own numbers, and other ways to weave basic observations, impressions,
research revelations, and experience-interpretation into a finished
journal page. Finally, I'll share my personal experiences of learning
through a track journal.


Wildlife Tracker Evaluations - from South Africa to North America
By Mark Elbroch

CyberTracker Conservation and Louis Liebenberg have been evaluating
wildlife trackers in Southern Africa for a decade. This effort has
raised standards in eco-tourism, anti-poaching, wildlife research and
other fields, as well as aided all who have participated in obtaining
work in a part of the world where jobs are scarce and poverty
widespread. The CyberTracker system of evaluating wildlife trackers
has now finally come to North America.

Join our presenter in a visual and anecdotal presentation about the
evaluation practices in Africa, and a few comparison notes about the
North American wildlife tracking community. Experience the people, the
cultures, and wildlife which abound in far-off Africa as (s)he
recounts being evaluated along side Bushman and Shongaan trackers, and
shares images which stir the mind and spirit. But also understand the
role of evaluation in gaining greater credibility as a community and
emerging field of work. Evaluation and testing will be discussed in
several arenas, as is done on several continents (with emphasis on
wildlife research), and the nuts and bolts of the actual evaluation in
South Africa will be presented thoroughly.

CyberTracker has trained its first North American evaluator, and this
system is now ready to launch in North America. What began in one
corner of the world is now being held aloft as a potential model for
creating international standards in wildlife tracking. Following the
presentation will be a question and answer period including one or
more others who have been evaluated in North America.